On day two of his visit in the US, Financial Secretary Paul Chan took part in a dialogue between the California Bay Area and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a function on climate action in Berkeley, California.
 
Mr Chan is leading a delegation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to participate in the two events. Delegations from Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR also attended the functions.
 
The Bay to Bay Dialogue between the California Bay Area and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) focuses on the co-operation between the GBA and the San Francisco Bay Area in various aspects.
 
Speaking at the first panel discussion of the dialogue, Mr Chan shared Hong Kong's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and the low-carbon transformation policy measures adopted to achieve such a goal.
 
The measures include using cleaner energy for electricity generation, using mass transportation, especially the railway system as the backbone for transport and urban development, energy savings and emission reduction in buildings, green buildings, and waste reduction.
 
He also elaborated on the work and progress on how Hong Kong made use of its advantage as a financial centre to promote the matching of funds with green projects.
 
At another session of the dialogue, Mr Chan said that the two bay areas are among the most affluent, technologically advanced and influential areas in the world, adding that with bilateral co-operation, they will achieve growing influence and make a proactive contribution to green development around the globe.
 
While expressing his hope that the dialogue will mark the beginning of more extensive and deeper co-operation between the two places, Mr Chan pointed out that apart from green development, Hong Kong, playing its unique role, can become an ideal location for the two bay areas to connect in terms of investment and businesses.
 
Moreover, he mentioned that leveraging the opportunities arising from the bay to bay dialogue, letters of intent and a memorandum of understanding were signed between Hong Kong and partners in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 
They are: Letter of Intent on Collaboration signed by the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau with the California-China Climate Institute to strengthen collaboration on carbon market development and sustainable finance; the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Invest Hong Kong and the Bay Area Council of San Francisco to facilitate exchanges in investment promotion and green and sustainable development; and Letter of Intent on Collaboration signed by the University of Hong Kong with the California-China Climate Institute to promote the nurturing of talent and youth exchanges and training.
 
Mr Chan and the delegation then attended the US-China High-Level Event on Subnational Climate Action where the Financial Secretary spoke, during one of the discussion sessions, about Hong Kong's strategies and processes towards carbon neutrality, including the popularisation of electric vehicles and works carried out in green finance and green technology.
 
The Hong Kong delegation also had a dinner with representatives from the two bay areas and the business community who participated in the Bay to Bay Dialogue and the High-Level Event.
 
During the dinner, Mr Chan emphasised that sincere co-operation between China and the US on climate change could generate significant synergies and bring about important positive impacts globally.
 
He added that he hopes to continue promoting communication and co-operation between the two bay areas in the future and consolidating mutual friendship.